Layout of Visual Sequence - Plan/Script
Glee: The Power of Madonna - This episode of Glee gives the representation that teenage girls are helpless, and need teacher intervention to gain the respect of guys, we see this from the scene in which all the girls in glee club make a gossip circle to talk about their troubles in getting guys to respect them, this representation is highlighted most significantly in this scene through dialogue when Tina says, "We just have to accept that boys don't care about our feelings," and the use of low angle shots on Mr Schuster, when he enters and comes up with a plan making him appear powerful in comparison to the girls. The episode also gives the representation that teenage girls cannot feel empowered without the assistance of an idol, and reject the concept of individuality to mimic the 'in' thing to become popular, this representation is shown through plot in the sense that the girls only gain the respect of the guys at the end of the episode by harnessing the image of Madonna and the way all the girls try to date younger men to be like Madonna, as shown by the way Brittany says; "Guess who I'm dating? Wes Brody. He's super cute. He plays soccer with my sister. He's seven." We also see this representation through costume, as the episode goes on more and more of the characters and extras are wearing costumes Madonna has worn in her music videos. The sub-plot also gives us the representation that the best way to hold on to a guy is to have sex with them, even if it is a bit awkward, we see this through use of dialogue, when Brittany says to Santana "Trust me; the way to get a man to follow you forever, take his virginity. Madonna, like, wrote a song about it." These representations could potentially affect teenage girls by making them feel that their individuality is irrelevant and that they should rely on mimicking the 'in' thing to become popular, and that having sex with a guy will cause the relationship to last longer, and can be used as a tool to keep a guy around. It could also potentially affect the way society sees teenage girls, by making them appear helpless to gain the respect of guys, it could potentially make society feel that they are helpless and that it is therefore ok to disrespect them, this is radically different from the reality because we have progressed a lot from how things used to be, despite what the representations of teenage girls in the media show, and it is now accepted in New Zealand and most other countries that girls are equal to everyone else and are not inferior or helpless as the show begins to insinuate. The likely consequences of these representations are that a lot of teenage girls will feel the need to copy the 'in' thing, sacrificing their individuality, this could potentially effect more teenage girls that do not watch the show aswell, because if it becomes a trend to copy a certain thing because of the show, other teenage girls that do not understand the reasoning are likely to go along with the style so as to not be alienated. Another likely consequence could be an increase in teen pregnancy, as the episode gives the representation that teenage girls are able to use sex as a tool to keep their partner interested, however the episode contains no background information on contraceptives or safe sex.
High School Musical 2 - Through the character of Sharpay we see the representation that teenage girls are oblivious to the feelings and relationships of others, and that they are willing to sacrifice the happiness of their friends and family to win the heart of the popular guy, this representation is shown by the way Sharpay bales on her talent show performance with her brother to perform a love song with Troy. Another significant is the scene where Troy and Gabriella are having a picnic on the golf course, while Sharpay and her brother Ryan spy on them from the building close by, in this scene Sharpay attempts to sabotage the date by making her assistant Fulton turn the sprinklers on, dialogue further emphasizes this through the way Sharpay says, "Fulton, when I was on the fourth fairway today, it seemed... bone dry! Could you tell maintenance to give it a little extra splash?" This also begins to show us the representation that teenage girls are manipulative of those around them, which is shown throughout the movie, again through the character of Sharpay. We also see this representation through the character of Sharpay that teenage girls are obsessed with pink, are overly feminine and fit the stereotype of 'Daddy's Little Angel'. The representation that teenage girls are obsessed with pink and overly feminine is shown through Sharpay's various costumes throughout the film, the majority of her costumes are either entirely pink, or have a significant pink aspect to them, and Sharpay, as a character is the embodiment of what society often labels 'the perfect girl', skinny, blonde, pretty, and a feminine personality. We see the representation that teenage girls fit perfectly into the stereotype of 'Daddy's Little Angel' through the way Sharpay acts all cutesie and innocent around her father and the guy she likes, but is openly manipulative around others, the best example of this representation is the scene she Troy is caddying for Sharpay's family, she acts overly sweet and puts on a baby voice to make Troy and her dad think she angelic, which is a huge contrast to the previous scene, where she was plotting to break Troy and Gabriella. These representations could potentially effect society, by making them feel that teenage girls will attempt to manipulate them and that teenage girls are selfish and uncaring of others relationships. These representations could potentially effect teenage girls by making them feel that being manipulative will get them what they want, it could also potentially effect teenage girls by beginning to push the image of 'the perfect girl' through the representation that girls are obsessed with pink, but I will discuss more of this in my next text where this effect is much clearer. The likely consequences of this media text could potentially be an increase in manipulative behavior in teenage girls, as the film gives the representation that teenage girls are manipulative through the character of Sharpay, but she does not face any permanent reprocusions, as by the end of the movie everyone has forgiven her, giving her yet another chance to add to the second chance she was given in HSM and will be given in both HSM3 and her spin off movie 'Sharpay's fabulous adventure', in real life people don't often get that many chances when they are outright mean to their peers, but the way the movie plays this off to be a reality teenage girls may think its ok to manipulate others to get what they want, because 'everyone forgive them anyways'. Another likely consequence of these representations is the over population of the idea that there is one perfect way for someone to be, through the representation that teenage girls are overly feminine and obsessed with pink, but I will be talking about this further in my next text as the idea is much more solid in it.
Mean Girls - Again we see the representation that teenage girls are catty and manipulative, we see this through the general theme of the movie, but the most significant moment in which this representation is shown, is the scene where Cady's opinion of Regina George changes, Cady is invited to a halloween party, however Regina deliberately leaves out the fact that all the popular girls dress in revealing outfits so Cady turns up over dressed. Regina then manipulates the boy Cady likes, to make him think Cady is a stalker, showing this representation through dialogue, "I know she's kind of socially retarded and weird, but she's my friend... so, just promise me you won't make fun of her!" this is just one example, there is manipulation throughout the movie. We see the representation that teenage girls are obsessed with weight, this is through the symbol of Regina George's many diets and her obsession with the fake weight loss bars Cady gives her. We see the representation that to be popular as a teenage girl you have to be skinny, pretty and dress in revealing clothes, which is where the image of 'one perfect girl' comes back into play, we see this representation through the casting of the characters that play the popular girls in comparison to the casting of the characters to play the unpopular girls, the popular girls are all, pretty, white, skinny and wear revealing clothing, whereas the unpopular girls wear comfortable clothes and are all different shapes and sizes, and are therefore alienated. These representations could effect society by making them feel that these representations are the normality and that all girls are catty, rude and manipulative, because in the movie these representations are played off as a reality when they are quite simply not. These representations could have an effect on teenage girls by popularizing the concept of 'the perfect girl' and making girls feel that being catty and rude is ok, as it is played off as a reality in the movie. The likely consequences of the representations of teenage girls in mean girls is an increase in manipulative behavior in girls and an increase in prejudice towards them due to society thinking of them as catty and manipulative. Possibly the most dangerous consequence could be the over popularization of the concept that there is one perfect way a girl should be, this attitude can lead to dangerous and expensive body modification, an increase in the sale of expensive clothes and make-ups and various different diets and eating disorders (8mil). The temporary weight loss industry alone make over 100 billion dollars a year. This consequence is particularly harmful to our society as it is legitimately harmfully, for example by the first grade 42% of girls want to be thinner and 35% of girls end up being on at least one diet by the time they are 12 years old, before they are even teenagers, which is why we have to be cautious, as these representations of teenage girls are only going to increase these statistics in their teenage years.
The reason all the effects of these representations of teenage girls in media texts come, is because they are played off as reality, which they are simply not. By making these representations seem the norm to their audience, the audience is increasingly likely to believe them, because they appear realistic.
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